State board of IIealtd. 
309 
shame, as she contemplates her penal codes and her prisons. She 
does not seem to have considered that a condition of society is man¬ 
ifestly possible, when those great charities, and these great peni¬ 
tentiaries, may become almost unnecessary. 
Our great republic boast's of her civil and political equality; but 
puts not forth the requisite effort to make them a blessing to her¬ 
self or her children. Now, the only possible means through which 
political and social evils, including poverty and dissoluteness, and 
crime and sickness and insanity, can be reduced to their minimum, 
is through the mental development of the individual. The best 
methods to be employed to accomplish this result, it is not the pur¬ 
pose of this paper to discuss, but that it should be done, is an im¬ 
perative necessity, if we would secure the highest welfare of the 
individual and of the state. It is just as necessary to the well-being 
of the individual that every faculty of his brain should be devel¬ 
oped, as that his mucles should be put in motion. This may not be 
at all necessary to secure what is commonly called “ success in 
life.” A few sharpened faculties may pierce through many obsta¬ 
cles to the desired goals, but this will not, of necessity, make either 
a great or good man. A thoroughly educated and thoroughly dis¬ 
solute or vicious man, if one can be found, will be an anomaly. 
The reason is obvious. He has grown appetites in other directions 
that demand food, and it takes all his time to forage for them. 
It was said, in another part of this paper, that a large proportion 
of the evils of life come as a consequence of the disuse of mental 
faculties. That “ a wise man foreseeth the evil and hideth him¬ 
self,” is as true to-day as when written, and so the question of the 
age is. How shall we be made wise? Parents guard the physical 
welfare of their children with jealous care, not that they may be¬ 
come stalwart, and so be able to thrash their neighbor’s children; 
but that they may be able to resist the vicious elements in nature 
that surround them, and so grow up in the full physical enjoyment 
of life, and thus become useful members of society. So should it 
be in the education of our children; not to make their education a 
badge of distinction; not to relieve them of life’s struggles, but to 
give them so goodly a heritage that they can rest at home, secure 
against the temptations that lead to unhappiness and dishonor. 
It is sometimes said that higher education makes men impracti¬ 
cal — that they do not succeed in life. ^Yho is to decide what is 
